Evaluating Results & Drawing Conclusions (OCR A Level Physics)

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Evaluating Results & Drawing Conclusions

  • Evaluating experimental results and drawing conclusions from them are two very important skills
  • Evaluation of results is a different skill from evaluation of the experimental procedure used to obtain those results
  • Conclusions can only be drawn from the results once they have been properly evaluated
    • For example, during the planning of an experiment, potential limitations of the experimental procedure should have already been identified
    • Before drawing conclusions, the impact that these limitations could theoretically have had (or may actually have had) on the data collected should be evaluated
    • If this evaluation shows these potential impacts to be negligible, a conclusion can more likely be drawn from the results
    • If it is decided that the limitations could have had a significant impact on the data, then it is much harder to draw a conclusion and it should be recognised that any conclusions drawn have a greater chance of being incorrect

Identifying Anomalies

  • Experimental errors (also known as operator errors or ‘one off’ errors) will affect the results of an experiment and can produce anomalies
    • These anomalies should be identified during the evaluation of results and before drawing conclusions
    • Anomalies can be identified by looking for results or data points on a graph that do not fit with the trend or with other replicates carried out during the experiment
    • These anomalous results will show a larger difference from the mean than the rest of the results (a result is often taken to be anomalous if it differs from the mean result by more than 10%)

  • The results or ‘data’ collected from an experiment can be made more reliable if the experiment is repeated several times and anomalies are removed
    • This, in turn, allows more valid conclusions to be drawn

Identify-anomalies-on-graphs, IGCSE & GCSE Chemistry revision notes

Identifying an anomalous result from a graph

  • If an anomaly occurs in the experiment:
    • Ignore this value when calculating the mean
    • Repeat this measurement

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Katie M

Author: Katie M

Expertise: Physics

Katie has always been passionate about the sciences, and completed a degree in Astrophysics at Sheffield University. She decided that she wanted to inspire other young people, so moved to Bristol to complete a PGCE in Secondary Science. She particularly loves creating fun and absorbing materials to help students achieve their exam potential.